Name your App, in this case we will name it "C++ConsoleApp." Then click ok.

The Application Wizard box opens.

Before you click Finish, click Next.

Make sure you put a checkmark next to "Empty project."

Now you can click Finish to create an empty console application.

A bare bones C++ program needs a .cpp file. So under Solution Explorer, right click Source files/Add/New Item.

Choose C++ File (.cpp) and give it a name like MainApp. Then click Add.

Below, you see an empty MainApp.cpp file. It starts at line number 1, but there is no Main function yet. We will add that next.

Type in "int main(){return 0;}"

Next, add the <iostream> and namespace std above the main function. Now we can start coding inside the main function.

Your first program - "Hello World"

We will start with a simple "Hello World" program. Not a real App, just a text print to the screen. After you start a console project with an empty main() function, type in the three statements below.

int input_pause;

cout << "Hello World";

cin >> input_pause; //press any key and Enter to end program or close console window

To start the program for the first time it has to be Built by the Compiler. You can go to "Build Solution" first, or if you are sure there are no syntax errors, go to "Start debugging", which will Compile and start the program.

The console window pops up and you see Hello World.

Lets take a closer look at the three statements of interest in this program.

int input_pause;

cout << "Hello World";

cin >> input_pause; //press any key & Enter to end program or close console window

The first statement just initializes the variable input_pause

The second statement cout, just prints the text that is in quotations to the screen.

The third is a cin input statement with the variable "input_pause". All this line does is keep the console window from closing until you enter a key or close the console window.